Saturday, May 25, 2013

I recently explored the possibility of making my own leather cuffs as I wasn't able to find what I wanted. I found that both my local craft stores (Michael's and Hobby Lobby) sold leather strips (in the leather section of the store) that are approx. 4x9 inches. I also found that in the sewing department I could purchase metal buttons that are designed for jeans. The process was really easy, just cut the leather to the width you need and the length plus one inch to the length.

Leather Punch

I have a leather punch that I used to punch a small hole in about 1/2 inch from one side and centered.

Metal button back

This shows the nail head of the metal button

Put the nail head of the metal button into the hole and then flip over the leather and line up the decorative metal button top, carefully flip over again and put the button back on a hard surface.

This is the top of the decorative jean button

With one good whack of the hammer it will be attached
firmly to the leather. On the other side of the leather I made two
small holes parallel of each other and cut the center to form the button
hole for the cuff.

Give the back of the button a whack or two with your hammer

The button is now attached

This is what it looks like buttoned

Now embellish the cuff with old findings and a pottery bead. Determine the mid point of the leather, and align a pottery bead on a metal finding. It helps if the metal is curved, just take a can of veggies out of the pantry and use it to curve the metal. Line up the bead with the metal finding and mark on the metal finding where the holes are in the pottery bead. Punch a hole thru the metal where you made your marks. I use my euro punch to punch the metal but you could use a drill also.

My Euro Punch

Now line up to the mid section of your leather cuff and mark where the holes will hit the cuff. Make a tiny hole with a
leather punch, and then add a micro screw thru the pottery bead, finding and leather secure on the back with a micro nut.You
could add E-6000 to the back of the metal finding before attaching the screws for a more secure fit.